The Open-Air Museum of Ethnography is located 3 km south-west from Tbilisi at the Turtle Lake. The museum is named after the Georgian ethnographer who founded the museum. It represents a kind of a Georgian village where every house and every estate are a reflection of the different eras of Georgian history. It is 65 hectares large and is arranged in eleven zones, displaying around 70 buildings, starting from the Bronze Age up to the early 20th century.
One of the most famous houses is a reconstruction of an ancient Georgian dwelling - "darbazi", which looks like if it is dug into the earth surface; the roof resembles a beehive. This type of structure was used from the Bronze Age until the early 20th century AD. There are also an early Christian "Sioni" basilica from Tianeti and a 6th-7th century familial burial vault with sarcophagus.
Craftspeople occupy several houses; others show displays of ethnographic and archaeological collections, especially the collections of knives, swords and daggers – no Georgian man could go without.
The official name of the museum in Georgian is გიორგი ჩიტაიას სახელობის ეთნოგრაფიული მუზეუმი ღია ცის ქვეშ, giorgi chitaias sakhelobis et’nograp’iuli muzeumi ghia ts’is k’vesh.
Text source: Advantour.com & Wikipedia
Image source: Museum.ge
